Replay
by DarkAlliGator
Summary: This is a rubbish summary, but here goes: The Grim Heaper fakes his own death to make it easier to become the Composer. His plan works, and now Joshua is demoted to a normal human and faces the Reaper's game himself.
1. Chapter 1

_Hiya! I just completed TWEWY, and decided I was gonna write a fanfiction for it. So, here it is. Anyway, the title may be changing at some point and if I get any details wrong please tell me, because although I've completed the game I haven't collected all the reports yet so there might be something I miss. _

_..._

Minamimoto pulled himself out from his pile of rubbish. For a mathematical genius such as him, it had been easy as pi to arrange the stack around himself to look like it had crushed him. Neku and his idiot friends had passed by, and instantly jumped to the conclusion that he was dead. It had worked perfectly. Except for one small factor. They had taken his hat.

"Stupid zetta morons!" He screamed. "What kind of freak takes hats off dead bodies?" He needed that hat, for more reasons than one. No matter. His plan was foolproof. Neku, Beat and Shiki would take on the Composer. Either the Composer would erase them, or they would erase the Composer. It didn't really matter who won. The survivor of the fight would be severely weakened, whilst Minamimoto was at the height of his powers. It would be no contest. He was in no doubt that by the end of the day he would be the Composer, and have his hat back too.

"Game on," he said out loud, and followed Neku and his friends down the tunnel.

Joshua turned to the door, still holding the gun he had used to shoot Neku.

"Come on in, Minamimoto. It must be boring, standing out there on your own." Minamimoto grinned sharkishly and entered the room.

"So you managed to erase the factors then?" He asked. Joshua smiled.

"Erase them? No. I just sent them back to the RG." Minamimoto stared at him.

"Why would you do that?" He asked incredulously. "And anyway, where is my hat?" Joshua shrugged.

"I sent them back because I decided that was the best course of action. As to your hat, I have no idea as to its whereabouts. I assume Neku took it back with him to the RG, if Neku was the one who had taken it. Why, is it important to you?" He asked slyly, twisting a strand of hair round his finger. He knew full well how important the hat was.

"Not important enough that I can't erase you without it! You're out of your vector here and you know it!" Without warning, he summoned five taboo noise and leapt backwards out of the way. Joshua reacted instantly, punching numbers into his phone to drop objects on the noise. Nothing happened.

"Come on," he muttered, dodging a kick from the kangaroo noise, only to be pinched in the ankle by a crab noise. "Why aren't you working?" Then he realised. Everyone in the UG needed a partner to fight noise. Neku had been his partner, but Neku was now in the RG. Joshua had no partner.

He would just have to use his gun, but he only had so much ammunition. Was there enough? He fell backwards as a wolf noise slammed into him, knocking him flying. He raised the gun and fired at the wolf noise, managing to hit it in the shoulder. It whipped round, snarling as Joshua picked himself up. He fired again and again, and watched as it dissolved into nothingness. So at least guns could erase noise. Something hit him in the head and he fell to the floor, twisting around and firing at the dark shape. It was hopeless. The crab noise spun towards him, slamming into his leg. He fired at it, but it blocked the bullet with its rock solid claw.

"So zetta slow!" Minamimoto mocked. A frog noise leapt onto Joshua's shoulder and bounced off, pushing him backwards. Joshua shot it twice and it disappeared. He stepped back wearily. Fighting the noise without a partner was hard. He stood no chance. If he could have unleashed his noise form, he would have made short work of the taboo noise, but as a human his powers were limited. This was not going well, but at least he had managed to erase two of the noise. He dodged a spray of bubbles sent out by another frog noise and fired at the kangaroo noise. It leapt up into the air, dodging the bullets. Minamimoto was watching with satisfaction. Joshua glared at him and fired a couple of bullets in his direction. Minamimoto dodged them easily. Joshua turned round and attempted to shoot at the crab noise, but the gun wouldn't fire. He pulled at the trigger desperately, but there was no ammunition left.

Minamimoto smiled evilly.

"Game over, Composer." He watched the kangaroo noise stomp on Joshua, ignoring his pathetic attempts to get it off. The crab noise spun itself at Joshua, who dodged only to stumble into the cloud of toxic looking bubbles that the frog noise had sprayed out. Just when it looked like he was about to be erased, Minamimoto erased the noise.

Joshua picked himself off the floor, dusting down his clothes. He sighed.

"So you want to erase me yourself then?" Minamimoto's smile grew.

"No way! You make the UG zetta interesting. I'll erase you at some point, but first I'm going to have some fun! So long, digit!" He pulled out a gun of his own and fired.

Joshua opened his eyes. He was in Shibuya, lying sprawled out on the pavement of the scramble crossing.

"Interesting..." he muttered to himself as he stood up. "So he wasn't lying. But I wonder, am I in the UG or the RG?" There was one way to find out. He could see players, reapers and noise, but that was nothing unusual for him. He'd been seeing them for the whole of his life. He put his hand in his pocket to check for a player pin, but found only a screwed up piece of paper. He pulled it out and read the message written on it.

_You zetta loser. I'm the Composer now, and you're just a regular human. Things are gonna be sooo zetta different now. Oh yeah, I'll be looking out for you in the RG so I can kill you and you can see the improvements I've made to Shibuya UG! And don't worry, I'll make it extra difficult just for you._

_Sho Minamimoto, Composer. _

Joshua screwed the paper up and threw it on the floor. He hardly ever lost his cool, but right now he was coming close. Minamimoto would be a terrible Composer. At least when Joshua had been Composer his Game had been fair. If the players won, their entry fee was returned and they came back to life. Simple as that, no strings attached. Except for Neku Sakuraba, but his had been exceptional circumstances. Joshua's Game had been completely fair, if almost impossible. He doubted that Minamimoto's Game would be as easy on the players. And sooner or later, he would have to play his Game himself. He sighed. Looks like he would have some preparation to do. The first thing he would need was a partner. He smiled slightly. Neku was going to hate him for this.


	2. Chapter 2

Joshua watched Neku laughing with his friends. He looked happy, much happier than he had been before he entered the Game. However, Joshua was about to ruin everything for him. Again. Never mind, it had to be done. He crept closer to them, taking care not to be seen. He had to get Neku away from the others somehow. Shiki, Beat and Rhyme would be sure to object to him "borrowing" Neku for a week. Or maybe longer. For all Joshua knew, Minamimoto might completely scrap the "survive for one week" scheme and come up with something completely new. In fact, Joshua knew Minamimoto well enough to know that that was probably _exactly _what he was going to do. He edged behind a bush, as near to Neku as he could get.

"Oh Neku..." he called softly. Neku spun round, and Joshua smirked at the look of shock on his face. He had obviously recognised the voice.

"Are you alright Neku?" Shiki asked, concerned.

"Yeah... Just thought I heard something."

"Yo, dontchu go crazy on us!" Beat yelled, and everyone laughed. Neku smiled and turned away from the bush.Joshua pulled out his phone and sent a text to Neku.

_Why don't you come and have a little chat with me Neku? _Neku's phone rang and he read the message. Joshua watched as he visibly paled.

"Neku? Are you sure you're alright?" Rhyme asked. Neku swallowed. He knew it was probably a bad idea to talk to whoever it was... especially as their voice had sounded remarkably like Joshua. And he knew that Joshua was bad news. But he had to find out what this was all about.

"I'm not feeling too good... I think I must have eaten something funny. I think I'm going to go home." He felt bad lying to his friends, but if it was indeed Joshua he did not want them involved in any way at all. Plus Beat would probably try to murder Joshua if he ever saw him again.

"Do you need us to walk you home?" Shiki asked. Neku smiled weakly.

"No, I'll be OK." He walked past the bush Joshua was hiding behind, and glanced back. He froze. Joshua smiled that smile that Neku had come to dread.

"Hello Neku."

Neku dragged Joshua into the deserted alleyway.

"What do you want?" He snapped. Joshua, as always, seemed unperturbed.

"My, what a nice way to greet one of your friends. Aren't you glad to see your dear, dear partner Neku?"

"You're not my partner! I don't have a partner. And..." Neku stopped. Joshua tutted.

"Were you about to say that I'm not your friend either? That's not very nice, Neku. You might upset me." He mimed wiping a tear from his eye. Neku glared at him.

"Enough with the pantomime. What do you want?" Joshua shrugged.

"What if I only wanted to talk to you? Do you treat all your friends like this when they want to talk to you?" Neku glared at him.

"Only the ones that betrayed and manipulated me! Oh, and you killed me too. Do you kill all your friends?"

"Only the ones that are more useful to me dead than alive. Anyway, I returned you and your friends to life so I personally consider that particular crime against you null and..." Neku grabbed his shirt and shoved him against the wall. Joshua offered no resistance.

"That doesn't change the fact that you betrayed my trust. I trusted you, and you used me! You never cared about me. I was just a pawn to you all along."

"What a harsh comparison, Neku! If I thought of you as a chess piece, you would certainly be more than a pawn. Why, you might even be the queen!"

"I am _not _a girl! And that doesn't change the fact that you used me." Neku growled.

"I wasn't suggesting you were a girl. I was indicating your usefulness to..."

"Quit changing the subject Joshua! Just tell me what you want and go away." Joshua sighed.

"Fine, since you are so impatient. I am here, because I am no longer the Composer."

"What? Why not?"

"When you were attempting to find me, did you by any chance come across Minamimoto?"

"Yeah. He was dead, crushed under a stack of junk."

"No he wasn't. He followed you down the tunnel and waited until he was sure that you were gone. Then he defeated me, and sent me back to the RG as a normal human."

"What? But I swear he was dead! I took his hat, he didn't even try to get it back..."

"Tell me Neku. If he had indeed been erased, then why would his body have remained there? Surely you remember that when someone is erased they disappear."

"Yes, but..."

"Anyway, about the hat. Do you have it now? May I have a look at it?" Neku pulled the black cap out of his pocket and handed it to Joshua.

"I should probably take this. After all, now Minamimoto is Composer he will be looking for it, and he is after me anyway. After all, I wouldn't want to put my ex-partner in any unnecessary danger." Joshua smirked as he said the last bit, and Neku immediately became suspicious but decided not to pursue the subject. Not yet, anyway.

"Why didn't he erase you?" Neku asked.

"He wanted me to see what he's doing to Shibuya's UG, and to play his Game." Joshua suddenly realised something strange. He hadn't seen any Reapers or Players since he had gone to look for Neku. There were Noise of course, but that was it. It seemed that Minamimoto had begun his changes already.

"That makes sense." Neku said. "So, anyway. It's all very well telling me this, but what's the point in telling me? I can't do anything about it."

"You _cooould..."_ Joshua smiled.

Neku immediately backed away.

"No. No way! You're not killing me again. I've got friends now! You can't kill me! And Shades told me I was banned from all Games after the one with Beat. As punishment for helping _you,_" he added.

"Ah, but I doubt Minamimoto knows that." Joshua paused, enjoying the look on Neku's face.

"No... please..." Joshua laughed.

"Sorry Neku. I couldn't resist teasing you. I'm not really going to kill you." Neku relaxed slightly, although Joshua could see he remained tense.

"You're not? Then what are you going to do?" _Play right into Minamimoto's hands,_ Joshua thought, but of course he didn't mention this out loud.

"I'm going to see Mr H. Neku, would you come with me? I'm sure Mr H would be happy to hear from you since you completed the Game, and I would like someone to talk to. I haven't talked to anyone my own age for weeks." He placed a deliberately sad look on his face, hoping the emotional ploy would work on Neku. Neku frowned. Joshua was definitely up to something. However, Neku couldn't see anything potentially harmful about walking to Mr H's. In fact, Mr H's cafe was probably one of the safest places you could be.

"Alright," he said reluctantly. "I'll go there with you. But I told my friends I was ill, and they won't be happy if they see you." Joshua smiled.

"OK. I understand. Shall we go?" He turned to leave but someone blocked his way.

"Yo! Where you taking Neku, prissy boy?"

"Howdy, Daisukenojo," Joshua said, smiling. Beat cringed at his real name.

"Bwaaaah! Yo, dontchu call me that! _Dontchu _call me that!" Rhyme giggled.

"Beat, don't get so worked up!" She looked at Joshua. "Joshua right? Where are you taking Neku?" Joshua sighed. Great. Just what he needed.

"We're only going on a little walk to Mr H's, right Neku? He agreed to come with me, and you don't need to worry. I'm not going to try anything. My gun's out of ammunition." He pulled the trigger a few times to prove it. Neku nodded.

"It's alright, guys."

"No! It's not aight Neku! You can't trust this little punk, he's the Composer!" Beat shouted. "The hell you thinking?"

"Neku, are you sure you can trust him? Remember, he _was _the one that killed you..." Shiki asked anxiously. Rhyme remained silent.

"Look, it's alright guys. I told you. I might not have forgiven him yet, but I trust him. He could easily have erased us and the whole of Shibuya, but he didn't."

"Yo, if you go we're comin' with you!" Beat said.

"No, really. I trust him. And anyway, I need to discuss something in private with him." Rhyme pulled at her brother's sleeve.

"Beat, if Neku wants to go on his own let him. I doubt Joshua will try anything knowing that if he hurts Neku he'll have you to deal with." Joshua smiled.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Beat scowled.

"Aight, but yo... you hurt Neku and you gonna regret it. You gonna regret it bad."

"I'll see you later then," Neku said and walked off in the direction of Mr H's cafe. Joshua stayed behind for a moment.

"How about you take this?" He handed Shiki Minamimoto's hat.

"What's this?" She asked. "Oh, it's that hat..."

"Neku gave it to me, and I've taken a liking to it. If I harm Neku in any way, I don't get the hat back. Deal?"

"Is this some kind of joke? Neku is worth way more than some skanky old hat!" Shiki said, glaring. Joshua shrugged, and walked after Neku.

"It's better than nothing."

Joshua and Neku entered Cat street.

"We should probably be quick, Neku. Minamimoto would probably expect me to come here first."

"Too zetta right! Just as calculated!" Joshua smiled. Yes. Exactly as calculated, for both him and Minamimoto. They both turned round.

"You!" Neku yelled. Sure enough, there was Minamimoto sitting on top of one of his piles of junk, pointing a gun at Neku.

"You!" Minamimoto yelled. "You zetta stole my hat! You'd better give it back or I'll subtract you from the RG and add you to the UG!" Neku blanched.

"I don't have it. Joshua?" Joshua made a big show of rifling around in his pockets.

"Heh, in that case don't bother." Minamimoto said, moving the gun to point at Joshua. "I'm gonna kill you anyway, and I can reclaim my hat then."

"Neku!" Joshua hissed, just loud enough for Minamimoto to hear. "I don't have the hat! I thought you took it back."

"What? No! I didn't!" Minamimoto's gun swivelled back to Neku.

"We don't have your hat! Go look somewhere else." Neku yelled.

"You stupid hectopascal liars_!" _Minamimoto screamed. He calmed down almost immediately, smirking. "Fine. You stay right there while I complete the equation." Neku had no intention of "staying right there", and tried to run. However, he couldn't move. Neither could Joshua. Minamimoto pointed the gun at Joshua.

"Have zetta fun in my Game, ex-Composer!"

"No!" Neku yelled, but it was too late. Not that he could have done anything anyway. Minamimoto fired, and Joshua collapsed to the floor.

"Joshua..." A horrible thought hit Neku. _I'm next. _Minamimoto searched Joshua's pockets for the hat, but found nothing.

"So you _have _got it! You zetta liar. I guess you want to play my Game too?"

"No! I don't have..." Minamimoto fired.


	3. Chapter 3

Joshua stood up. The first thing he noticed was that he was not in Shibuya. He frowned. Had Minamimoto decided to site the Game somewhere else? This didn't look like anywhere he knew of. It was just a huge, blank spread of concrete stretching out further than he could see. He thought for a moment. Either Minamimoto had decided not to use Shibuya, or... his eyes widened as he realised what had happened. He looked around for the usual flow of people going about their daily business, but there was nobody. Nobody except an unconscious orange haired boy lying a few feet away from him. He smiled and punched a fist in the air. It had worked. Whilst laying out his plan, he had decided not to kill Neku personally. If he did that, Neku would most likely partner up with someone else simply to spite him, or at least be constantly on the lookout for ways to betray him behind his back. Instead he had manipulated it so that Minamimoto had ended up killing them both. This way, Neku would probably be more co-operative and more willing to help him, especially if he acted remorseful and apologetic. Plus, knowing Neku, he would want revenge. He walked over to the unconscious boy.

"Neku... wake up." Neku stirred slightly.

"Wha..?" He lay there for a few seconds, and then sat bolt upright as he remembered what had happened. "You! You got us both killed!" Joshua turned away.

"I know. I'm sorry Neku. Really. I thought we would be safe at Mr H's." Neku raised an eyebrow. Joshua seemed apologetic. Neku had never seen him act like this.

"Very convenient, don't you think? Now I've _got_ to be your partner because everyone else is gone!"

"I noticed that. It seems that the entry fee is one aspect of the Game that Minamimoto has decided to keep. Your entry fee was everyone in Shibuya, including the other players, wasn't it? My, my Neku. You really have changed." Neku shook his head.

"I don't think so. I think..." he stared at Joshua, realising something. "Wait! Why are you still here then?" Joshua shrugged.

"Isn't it obvious? Minamimoto wants me to play his Game, and I can't play it if I wind up as your entry fee."

"Correct! But I'm afraid you made a slight error about his entry fee. Now you've solved that simple equation, here's another! What are the chances of you surviving my Game?" Neku and Joshua turned round.

Minamimoto was standing right behind them. Joshua considered the question for a moment.

"Well, you would probably say it's zero. But we're partnering up, so I would estimate slightly more than zero."

"Zetta wrong! On your own, chances of survival are zero. Partnering up, your chances of survival are zero squared: ZERO! Or if you prefer addition, zero plus zero. ZERO! Zero minus zero: ZERO! Zero divided by zero: ZERO! Square root zero:"

"Alright! We get the idea!" Snapped Neku. Minamimoto laughed.

"You're zetta doomed, digits. The maths doesn't lie, and there's nothing you can make with zero but zero. Anyway, enough about the calculation of your erasure. Too easy for me. Welcome to my zetta Game!"

"Doesn't look like much," remarked Joshua. "Just a stretch of blank concrete."

"Where _are _we anyway?" Asked Neku. Minamimoto smiled.

"Ask pretty boy. He knows." Neku looked at Joshua, who shrugged.

"Same place we were before, Neku. We're in Shibuya."

"What? But we can't be! Where is everything? The shops, the buildings, the life..."

"People change, Neku. You used to hate people, now they're your entry fee. I planned to erase Shibuya before I realised its worth." Neku stepped backwards.

"You mean Shibuya was your entry fee? How is that even possible?"

"I've seen stranger things taken as entry fees. Anyway, Mr Minamimoto. What is our first mission?"

"That's the zetta beauty of my Game. There are just two missions, and you don't leave the game until you've completed them." He smiled sharkishly. "Or of course, until you've been erased, which is the more probable outcome."

"What are these missions then?" Joshua asked. Minamimoto pulled out a megaphone.

"Damn," Neku muttered. "I thought he got rid of that!"

"Looks like he got a new one."

"Attention all yoctograms! Your missions are here! Mission number one! Survive! Mission number two! Get what you want!"

"What? They're not missions!" Neku shouted.

"What do you mean by that?" Joshua asked smoothly.

"Well, you want to invert your death don't you?" Minamimoto asked, pointing at Neku.

"Yeah, but..."

"Find a way! And you," he sneered, "Want to be Composer again, right?" Joshua nodded.

"Find a way! I'll be off now. Have zetta fun!" He began to walk off, but stopped. "Oh, and a parting gift from me to you. I'll start off weak, just for you zetta weaklings." He summoned two frog Noise and several tadpole Noise before disappearing into the difference.

The noise edged closer to them.

"Neku, we have to make a pact! Quick!" Neku blinked. He remembered seeing players who hadn't made a pact yet being erased on the spot by even the weakest noise.

"I accept!"

"Do you have any pins from before?" Neku felt in his pocket. He had only three pins there; a player pin, Mr Hanekoma's fusion pin and Rhyme's noise pin.

"No! Only Rhyme's pin, and that won't be any use because she's back in human form now! I've got the fusion pin Mr H gave us, but that won't be any use unless we can fight together." One of the frog noises blew a cloud of bubbles at Neku, who dodged them quickly. A tadpole noise fixed itself to his leg and he grimaced, his movement slowing down slightly.

"She was taken as part of your entry fee. Maybe you can still use it. In any case, we need to do something _now._" Joshua stabbed a key on his phone, causing a bicycle to fall on some of the tadpole noise. A frog Noise leapt onto his shoulder. Neku concentrated, and attempted to summon Rhyme's squirrel Noise to attack the other frog, which was puffing itself up ominously. It worked. A pink blur slammed into the frog Noise before vanishing again, replaced by a falling sign from Joshua.

"I can use it!" Neku focussed his assault on the frog he had just attacked, and after three more attacks from Rhyme and a couple of falling objects from Joshua it dissolved into grey specks.

"One down," Neku said optimistically. His legs were covered in tadpole Noise now, and he was finding it difficult to move. "Get off!" He wondered if using Rhyme to get them off him was a good idea, but tried it anyway. The squirrel Noise hit him, knocking him over but erasing a fair few of the tadpoles. The rest of them were knocked off him, where they were swiftly erased by a falling advertisement.

"Thanks!" Neku called to Joshua. Joshua ignored him and leapt up into the air, blasting the remaining frog Noise with columns of light. Neku summoned Rhyme once more, and the frog vanished, leaving behind the standard starter pins, which Neku pocketed.

"Rest in peace," Joshua said cheerfully. "Erased."

"So now what?" Neku asked. "Get what we want. How are we supposed to do that?"

"Oh, Neku, isn't it obvious? We find Minamimoto, erase him, and I become Composer again. Then I can bring you back to life and return our entry fees. Equation solved, as Minamimoto would put it."

"Yeah, I suppose. But don't tell me you don't find something fishy about all this?"

"What do you mean by fishy?" Joshua knew exactly what Neku was getting at of course, but he enjoyed watching Neku struggle to work things out.

"The Noise won't attack us unless we attack them, right? So all we need to do is not attack them, and surviving will be easy."

"The taboo Noise that I assume Minamimoto will be summoning in the near future will attack us if we scan, but otherwise you're right. There _is_ something slightly odd. Never mind. I expect Minamimoto has some unpleasant surprises up his sleeve for us, but we'll face them when we get there. In the meantime, may I suggest something?"

"What?" Neku asked suspiciously. "The last time you suggested something we both died."

"No need to be so dramatic. Nothing dangerous, I promise. How about you try summoning Rhyme out of that pin again?"

"What's the point of that?"

"If you can keep her out of that pin, you won't have to keep summoning her to help us and you can use those other pins you just found while she fights as well. It'll be like fighting in a three instead of a pair." Neku sighed.

"I guess you have a point. If things get rough, I can always just return her to the pin." He pulled out Rhyme's pin and concentrated.


	4. Chapter 4

Rhyme looked around for Noise to attack, but there were none there. What's more, instead of disappearing straight back into her pin like she usually did, nothing happened. She was just there. She looked up at Neku, confused.

"Are you OK, Rhyme?" He asked. She nodded. "Come and sit up on my shoulder or something, it'll be difficult for you to keep up with us." Rhyme ignored him and scrambled up Joshua's leg.

"What are you up to?" Joshua asked. Rhyme ran along his arm and knocked his phone out of his hand. Neku made to pick it up.

"No, wait Neku. I think she's trying to tell us something." Joshua said, watching Rhyme jump nimbly to the ground and run over to the phone. Her tiny squirrel claws tapped out a message on the keypad. Joshua waited until she was finished, then walked over and picked it up.

"It says "Neku, what happened?""

"It was Minamimoto. He intercepted us on the way to Mr H's, and shot us." Joshua placed the phone on the ground again. Rhyme typed out another message. Neku read it this time.

"Are you two OK? And why am I a Noise again? Where are the others?" Neku sighed.

"They got taken as part of my entry fee, Rhyme. You were taken as part of it too, so that's why I can summon you as a Noise again. Sorry to drag you into this. If you're in danger, just let me know somehow and I'll put you back in the pin."

"Speaking of which, Neku dear, there's something you still haven't told me." Joshua smirked. Neku instantly bristled.

"What this time?" He was willing to bet anything that Joshua already knew the answer to the question he was about to ask. He was only asking to be annoying. Yet again.

"If the people in Shibuya weren't your entry fee, what was?" Joshua asked, twisting a strand of hair around his finger. "It's only fair. We are partners, after all, and you must trust your partner... and you know what _my _entry fee is..."

"Why should I tell you anything?" Neku snapped. He would have been perfectly happy to tell Joshua his entry fee if Joshua hadn't asked.

"I've just explained that, Neku. My my, do pay attention. I'm your dear, dear partner, and partners shouldn't keep things from eachother."

"Well why didn't you tell me you were the Composer then, hmm?" Neku snapped. Joshua giggled.

"Hee hee. You're changing the subject. What was your entry fee? It couldn't have been everyone in the world, could it?" He asked slyly, glancing at Neku out of the corner of his eye to see his reaction.

Neku stiffened, confirming his suspicions.

"Yes. That was my entry fee. Now can we please move on and actually plan what we're going to do? We can't face Minamimoto like this." However, Joshua wasn't going to let it go that easily.

"Really? My my Neku. If we fail, the whole world will die." He said, looking like he didn't give a damn.

"I was aware of that already, thanks. That's why we need to plan what we're going to do!"

"Always going at full pace, Neku. Why don't you just slow down a bit and relax? There's no time limit. We have all the time in the world!" Joshua said, sounding very happy. Neku was not so happy.

"Look! You're the one that got us into this mess in the first place! You're some god person with awesome powers or something, why couldn't you have just erased Minamimoto when you had the chance?" Joshua smirked but didn't reply.

"So, you're the clever one. What do we do now?" Neku snapped.

"Well, that's obvious. We do what we were originally going to do before we were interrupted."

"What?" Neku was confused.

"We'll go see Mr H."

"But..."

"Come on now Neku! No time to waste!" Joshua sang, racing off into the distance. Neku picked up Rhyme and chased after him.

Half an Hour Earlier

Mr H blinked. One minute he had been in his café, the next everything had simply disappeared. He looked around, but there was nothing but blank concrete.

"Strange," he muttered. "Something big must be happening in the UG." He was sure that if he was not from the Higher Planes, he too would have vanished. He sighed and put down the coffee cup he had been holding when everything vanished.

"I suppose I'll have to find Joshua."

Neku sped after Joshua, desperately trying to keep up.

"Wait! Mr H would have vanished too!" Joshua simply smirked and pointed. Neku looked forwards. He could see a distant shape of a person.

"Stop! How do you know that's not Minamimoto?" Joshua ignored him and continued walking.

"If that's Minamimoto, we're as good as erased, and so is the world!" Neku said.

"Even if it is Minamimoto, there isn't exactly anywhere to hide, is there Neku? We've been seen now, and we can't run or hide anywhere."

"Screw you," Neku muttered, but continued walking. Much as he hated to admit it, Joshua generally knew what he was doing.

"Joshua? Neku?" The shape called. Neku breathed a sigh of relief. It was Mr H.

"Howdy Mr H." Joshua continued walking until he was standing next to Mr Hanekoma. Neku followed.

"And Rhyme too? Joshua, what is going on?" Mr H asked. Joshua shrugged.

"Minamimoto is Composer now, and Neku and I are being forced to play his Game."

"How did Minamimoto... never mind. So what's happening in his Game?"

"Nothing," Neku said. "We've apparently got to survive long enough to get what we want."

"Of course, we doubt it will be that simple." Joshua added.

"Yes, I doubt Minamimoto will be content to leave you with no risk. So why is Rhyme here?" He pointed at the squirrel Noise.

"She was taken as part of Neku's entry fee, but Neku still had the pin she was linked to so we summoned her to fight with us," Joshua said.

"What about the others? I'm guessing they were part of the entry fee as well?" Mr H asked thoughtfully. Neku nodded.

"Yeah."

"Phones, what would you say if I said there was a way to get them back?" Mr H asked. Neku was instantly alert.

"How do you mean?"

"They'd be Noise like Rhyme here, but it would be possible to get them back and of course you could restore them once Joshua is Composer again. You would need a blank pin though. One for each of them."

"Where do we get blank pins?" Neku asked. Mr H frowned.

"That's where the difficult part comes in. You can only get them by erasing an extremely powerful type of Taboo Noise. As well as being extremely powerful, they're extremely rare too. Reapers are banned from summoning them, and very few even know about them."

"Fantastic," muttered Neku. "Is it worth the risk though?"

"Sorry?"

"It's not just us and the others. If we fail, the whole world goes. If we beat Minamimoto, we'll get them back anyway. Even if we get the pins and summon them, we'll only be putting them in danger too. I don't want to be selfish and risk everyone's lives just..." Before he could finish, Rhyme ran down his shoulder and grabbed his phone. She typed into the keypad and showed it to Neku.

"They can help us fight. Minamimoto won't be expecting them, and more people will give us a bigger chance of winning." Joshua read the message.

"She's right, Neku. I think we should try finding some of these Taboo Noise. I expect Minamimoto will want to make things difficult for us and I wouldn't be surprised if he's summoned some of these Noise. Besides, if things get too bad we can always run."

"I suppose..." Neku said slowly. "But..."

"Excellent! Come on then, Neku. Let's go and find some of these Noise. See you around, Mr H!" With that, Joshua grabbed Neku's wrist firmly and dragged him off.


End file.
